What Is Gain Staging?

[@sweetwater]

Dive into the alchemy of gain staging with audio wizard Mitch Gallagher⚡

[@EndlessMeece]

He really is a wizard!!! With one of the sexiest speaking voices on the web! (Second only to Justin Colletti of sonicscoop... im sorry, that dudes voice when he podcasts... I had to beg him to never directly compel me to purchase anything. I won't be able to resist.)

[@luna7810]

I am currently attending Berklee College of Music and I have to be honest and say that this video really helped me understand all these topics as a whole in under 5 minutes. Goes to show you how much great legitimate content is out there and how something that is relatively simple can be blown out.

[@iainmackenzieUK]

This was a fantastic summary of gain staging for an amateur enthusiast such as myself. I already use these ideas but it was so reassuring to hear a professional summarise the whole process. Many thanks

[@devilsinstrument]

I know, right!?!

[@iainmackenzieUK]

@@devilsinstrument :)

[@quantum_ocean]

Too many KZbinrs are too young and experienced and giving bad advice. This guy clearly understands this stuff at a much deeper level

[@TheCALMInstitute]

This is the densest, most accurate presentation on this topic I have ever seen. SO refreshing to get good engineering advice, simply delivered. It's clear you know what you're talking about - thank you!

[@WindTreeStudios]

Yet another GREAT summary of a relatively complex topic Mitch! I'm a lone hobbyist home recording guy and you are my "buddy" teaching me the basics. Thank you for this succinct yet comprehensive talk on gain staging!

[@cowabungabonzai]

Appreciate these videos. I’ve been running sound for a little over 15 years and I’m mostly self taught. I went to SAE when I was 20 it I didn’t really get into running sound live until I was about 25. I’ve done everything from FOH and monitors in large and small music venues, corporate a/v in hotels, wedding bands, theaters. These videos are great cause I get older I always got younger cats asking me stuff and these things give me a refresher course on terms and ways to explain things 🤘

[@Gordonhermederme]

Who needs an audio engineering degree when you have Sweetwater! Man are these tutorials succinct.

[@NaturalMysticism]

This guy is an absolute Chad always dropping valuable knowledge.

[@Supernautiloid]

Somewhat unusual invocation of Chad energy, but I’ll allow it.

[@StratsRUs]

Thank you for a balanced guidance with none of the irrelevant theatrics.This is the best advice I have seen on not getting freaked out by it all !

[@johnhricko8212]

Great, concise vid! basically, start slow, don't "crank it", listen, adjust slowly, listen... I basically set everything to 6/10. Go from there. Don't change the final stages (pre & amp).

[@NWTMasterWolf]

Thank you. You have cleared up some things for me. I am a 57yo who just picked up guitar but I used to be a singer (spoiled asshole who just showed up and expected everything to sound right LOL) But I am now learning sound and music a long with my guitar, bass and keyboard. I really appreciate these videos. Peace love and light.

[@TeraCulpa]

Let’s take a moment to appreciate Mitch. I always enjoy any video he’s a part of.

[@deshawnrivers]

This is for sure the most helpful and succinct description of gain staging. I feel like most other videos are like 30 minutes long describing arbitrary rules applied to linear plugins so it doesn't even help. This actually explained what it was and I was able to figure out my vocal chain quite quickly

[@MUDCITYNATIVE419]

Internet people make gain staging so difficult. He explained this so simple and made it easy to comprehend.

[@jeffreyalanday7432]

A concise and perfect balance of concept and vocabulary. Thanks.

[@mikeillgaming4224]

I've watched many other videos .. some are 30 min long.... It took this man 5 min smh THANK YOU

[@craigturb]

Really nice, well presented and logical summary. Many thanks Mitch - I learnt a few things here!

[@devilsinstrument]

Hot Damn! This is the concise and informational source I've looked for on this subject for more than a couple of years! I know a lot of this, but the simplicity with which it is explained here is super informative, and confirms a lot of what I could never confirm before now. Thank you so much, I've taken notes but I'm going to be coming back to this video to confirm my understandings. :D

[@djrobflow]

Thank you for doing this. This concept is now sitting in my brain properly 🙌🏽

[@kirabarsmith9353]

Great topic. Gain staging has a huge influence on the end result, and I find most pieces of gear have their sweet spot of how hard to hit it and where to set the output.

[@quantum_ocean]

Thank you so much for this tutorial. It helped me understand so many things I was doing wrong.

[@gilldanier4129]

Thank you for that clear tutorial. I understand more now.

[@pbenson56fran]

If this did not answer a question I had on EQ. I will save this for replay over and over. EQ per volume. Okay, I no check Sweetwater reference page. Thanks. 😊

[@stevenspencer9104]

Thank you so very much and have a blessed new year.

[@JanEkbom]

You gave valuable knowledge in every sentence. ✨

[@Mr_A_Mia]

Another awesome, well needed video.

[@mr.justice3220]

Concise and informative. Excellent

[@thesearethesuns]

Thanks for the very clear and thorough explanation! Great video as always Mitch, much appreciated!

[@lundsweden]

I think a lot of us who started out with analog set levels too high. I started out with analog multitrack cassette back in the 90s, and it sounded great when pushed at each stage! We have to remember 24bit digital recording is very low noise and has heaps of headroom, so need to back off on each stage somewhat!

[@harolddawsonmusic]

Thank you for posting this! A very much needed video

[@sweetwater]

We appreciate you checking it out, Harold! 👍

[@marcdanielnelson317]

Excellent video Mitch, All said here is excellent advice.

[@ErikHawk]

Very nicely explained Mitch! Short, sweet and to the point. Thanks for doing this!

[@paareth]

Really great info but give yourself a breath in between each point, it'll be easier for beginners to follow. Thanks for the great video.

[@EdDiazKeys]

Awesome video Mitch!!! 👏🏽👏🏽👏🏽

[@iosuagalev]

Thank you for this video! I finally understand how to set my levels and what to look for!

[@Arthur1SD]

I'm making it easier. I put the plugin Hornet VU meter first in the chain. I put the gain plugin on the master bus with a value of -12db. I press auto on the Hornet VU meter, start playback, go to drink coffee. I come and everything is ready to work. Saving time a lot.

[@tasteapiana]

Gain Staging is a combination of life planning and dieting that results in having no unexpected changes in one's weight until a set amount of time has transpired. For example, the average western male will gain stage so that he does not form much of a belly until he is around 40 year old, married and the kids are just old enough to laugh about it and poke fun at him for it without him then choking them to death. The importance of gain staging is manifold and society reaps many benefits from it, however, there are downsides to it which include the aforementioned reduction to yearly smartaleckkidicide numbers. Studies have shown that smart aleck kids, if not kept in check, can have a detrimental impact upon all positive attributes of life. Therefore, gain staging should be considered cautiously and not indulged in without first consulting that kinda drunk and out of shape uncle everybody avoids, meaning, just look at that guy, really. Do you wanna be like that at his age?

[@dmreturns6485]

That was a great explanation. Really helpful.

[@u.h6844]

I love the thumbnail

[@EternityRecordsUSA]

Thanks for the info Mitch

[@natashanyxx9486]

This was helpful. Thanks!

[@aangovan]

nice good information. conclusion, -10db to -18db is the sweat spot.

[@barneschris5148]

This is brilliant and very useful

[@emanuel_soundtrack]

loudness levels are a crazy issue for me still, principally with midi and orchestral music. It can be loud on DB but still sound “piano”, we have to adjust midi velocity and many other aspects in orchestral music. There is always place for something more forte, but still the piano passages has to be also present; to not mention counterpoint and lines answering each other . To play a tutti chord to gain stage is good but still not enough, so there is a lot of automation work, and this can lead to important mistakes of the overall gain when setting the master or processing all tracks together, because it is easy to forget the automation point. And when you want realism you out monitoring high or loose again the sense of forte/piano after working hours on headphones or low volume on monitors. Basically the best is to have a display just for metering, and a set of reference tracks saved on template, all things i should do myself from now on ;)

[@modelcitizen1977]

I’ve been doing the single step mastering/summing thing for some time, getting a mix I’m happy with and slamming the output into a good multi band plug in limiter like Waves with about 1-2 db reduction max. and calling that “dynamic”. This makes me want to try a nice open mix and focus on mastering in Izotope or T-Racks after the fact and see if I get better results.

[@av3nger3]

You'll primarily want to handle the dynamics with automation points instead of compression or limiting

[@BatDroppings]

Thank you for this great video! This is really helpful. Also hoping for video on compression.

[@markmumm5029]

I am very new to this and am confused. @1:37, he says keep the faders at 0db. @2:37, he says -10-18db. @3:16, he says keep them at -6db. Why the difference? Which is it?

[@brucegaminglee5685]

Just subbed

[@ZenMountain]

Thanks!

[@RudyrhythmzRudyrhythmz]

I would love to see a video on how to prevent headphone feedback when the artist is recording and wants their headphones loud

[@boredfish80]

So…you get the levels around -10 to -18dbFS and the image showed that with the fader at 0. Then you say you like to have your faders around -6. Do those things go together? Or do you get things happy around the -10 to -18 and THEN drop the faders a further 6 so that it’s -16 to -24?

[@themarcosaguila1]

-6 on master or summing -10 thru -18 in individual channels

[@av3nger3]

It would be nice to see more plugins that automatically achieve unity gain so you can hear unbiased differences between a wet and bypassed signal

[@Nobox-eg7qu]

Which meters should I use, confused by the many options in protocols thanks,

[@emanuel_soundtrack]

great video

[@mynamesnotimportant6941]

Is Sweetwater tracking me? Cause I was just trying to find out more about this 🤣

[@davolbc]

Well this is crazy 2 videos in one day what is it my birthday! 🎂

[@mrflynn01]

Maybe not however on 1/16 it will be mine, lol.

[@PearHellforge]

dude the thumbnail maaan

[@emanuel_soundtrack]

i use faders later after it never clips. I thought that we had to move faders all the time lol learned late that is better to keep them as a ruler or as an ornament at the end. principally in complex project where we loose the overview of what is affecting gain and cliping. I also test now a bus just for gain. Do you have thoughts on this, using a bus to adjust the gain? For ex. in 5 tracks i have bus 2 with a plug-in for gain or dynamics, i set the bus level of each track, but not their faders yet.

[@24x7Sri]

Now What Going Best advance Feedback suppression ... In Amplifier ,or In Mixer ,or External Product's pls Make video on this ,finally What's Is the Best , With Briefly Plz 🙏 I'm From India🇮🇳 Sweet water ♥️💓

[@sorry11303]

This is why Sweetwater is so 🍬

[@Fishplants]

What about all drum libraries, They almost always peak

[@kevinisaacs6930]

Yes..

[@mrpuppette7055]

I rarely gain stage, but hey i don't distort either!

[@hednoise]

I love sweetwater and Mitch but it is weird that you don't mention Mic level, Instrument level, or Line level when explaining Gain Staging. Also, the fact that the Master level can at -10 dB or lower not necessarily mean that you don't have good Gain Staging, your speakers or amp might be too loud and that has nothing to do with input gain. Just a couple of comments, Thanks for the explanation!

[@sorry11303]

I'm sorry I want more from this man do I need to call him I'll find you this is awesome I totally understand now thank you it was 🍫😃

[@R1GAMBLER]

pelham blue 335 👀

[@Neil-Aspinall]

Unfortunately there was way too much advanced info here for the average home recordist.

[@modelcitizen1977]

Which part? I didn’t notice much besides the essentials. Anyone recording anything at home with any frequency kind of already inherently knows this stuff from doing it, because if you don’t, it sounds bad, and after two minutes of googling, your average first timer is going to learn not to crank the input gain to 11. Next to not plugging stuff in, it’s one of the very first mistakes new people make. The rest is just the same thing as you go, really.

[@Neil-Aspinall]

@@modelcitizen1977 There are a lot of home recordists who are musicians first not sound engineers and I assure you that they would find much of what he said a little over whelming. I think it funny these days that a home musician is expected to be the player(s), the song writer, the drum track composer, the engineer and the Producer and Mastering expert. Luckily I started out as a sound engineer but I feel sorry for the humble aspiring home recording artist.

[@lafiesta1197]

Bars

[@superblondeDotOrg]

Gain staging only really makes sense in systems with nonlinear response. !

[@dooshmasta]

I think this information is going way too fast for someone who needs to learn it.

[@quantum_ocean]

You can change the speed in the KZbin playback control. Or just listen again. I have to listen to a few parts multiple times but the quality of the content is exceptional. Very helpful. I realize I had many misunderstandings and bad assumptions about how to mix.

[@moonwrusse5649]

Or you could pause the video, take notes and research some fundamentals in your own time instead of expecting the whole class to sit around bored shitless while you try to catch up ❤

[@walterbarry-ie2if]

also known as gain structure

[@brettliebermanmusic]

Yeah, the amount of horrible videos about this topic is crazy. Glad you all made this awesome explanation.

[@russangel]

You should read the news dude.

[@sweetwater]

One could say that Mitch IS the News Dude 😊

[@russangel]

@@sweetwater Great presenter. About time you lot opened a UK branch.

[@jaguarandi2]

did I learn anything?

[@MikeUIibarri]

Oh, no... the vanity thumbnails are coming to this channel. Brace yourself.

[@LaidbackSounds]

who cares, Mitch has a pass for everything in my books he is def one of the top guys on the net when it comes to clear and short educational and tutorial content. His work has really established sweetwater reputation worldwide to be honest

[@rumorscameras]

talk too fast. cno visual. could have been an express podcast but not an educational video.